If you use the 7- day display on Conversation Piece, you will notice that there have been 13 posters in the last week. Of these, 12 are male and 1 is female. (I'm assuming, here, that Lizz is the latter, although I do not know her.) The male/female split has become increasingly obvious over the past year. Given that the site's statistics show that males and females signed up in roughly equal numbers, why has this disparity developed?

The answer, I'm afraid, raises troubling issues about how the site has been run. Before someone argues, inanely, that the combative nature of TW conflicts with the female character, or some such, let me remind you that some of my favourite female posters were never shy to engage in vituperative debates, among them Wildwind, Anisette, Starlite, JarethsGirl, Glitterbot, Ohramona, Shelle, Beltene, etc. to name but a few. The problem is not that women did not sign up, but that they have left.

Although subtle, I believe the answer lies in the institutionalised sexism of the board's Admin & Moderators. I was among the first to point out in this thread, along with Starlite, that those posters who were frequently rewarded with early customised titles and more routine forms of praise were young, white males. (Among them, Dukewhite, Dice, Phoenix, and Wraith2.) The upshot here is that, despite applying themselves equally well, female posters did not feel as valued or as included in the community. It comes as no surprise that they would be among the first to leave and move on. The males named in my post were no doubt inured to their frequent abusing of their privilege to petition the powers that be for favours (they all felt that they deserved their custom titles early—and they all accepted them, of course), rather like the guy who successfully haggles for a rise in the workplace on the basis of his imaginary achievements while discarding the achievements of his more patient colleagues.

In short, the hierarchy of posters has effectively silenced most females, through title-ism, through the Mr. TW competitions (never won by a female),* or through other forms of approbation, encouragement or, simply, engagement with its preferred poster demographic.

< Not even joking.

*Although not run exclusively by moderators, the mods nevertheless could take part. Also, female posters no doubt sensed greater complications about 'whoring' themselves for votes compared to their male counterparts.

Indeed you did. I recall you lost narrowly to one of the two finalists, although I can barely remember any of the results except my own. (My victories are here withheld, with characteristic modesty.)

But the point is, if we were to imagine a re-run of the Mr/Ms TW competition split along male/female lines, using the names I mentioned above, it's difficult to see any of the holders of early customised titles beating their female 'equivalents'.

For example, while Dukewhite was something of a Bowie specialist, his frequent forays into humour couldn't match yours or anisette's. (1) Dice started many interesting threads on music and politics, yet his arguments lacked the explanatory force of a Wildwind or Starlite. (2) Ditto Glitterbot, for that matter. And arguably, she was more successful than Wraith in delivering pithy putdowns of Stu. (3) Similarly, there's something of Phoenix's whimsical humour in JarethsGirl, although I suspect that Phoenix is the only 'earlytitler' who had a realistic chance of beating anyone listed above. (4)

Still, the fact remains that TW is now more male-dominated than ever before--something that is arguably a legacy of seeing male role models doing so well and receiving more attention on the boards.

* * * * *

A serious question: does anyone remember how the pairings were decided in the competition? I think at first it was by nationality, and certain countries had a couple of groups because of their size. But I remember beating a certain Australian in the quarter finals, who may or may not have posted on this thread, so how was the knockout stage decided?

1) I assume DW entered the 2005/6 competition but fell early. Yet, because of the Dogzian overtones, his near-entangment of TW in a lawsuit (following his leaking of Heathen) loses him critical points.

2) The fact that I believe Starlite still has compromising photographs of yours truly in tights that must be contained at all costs has no bearing on my generous comments.

3) G-bot gave me one of my first compliments at TW, describing me as awesome, or suchlike. Again, this has not coloured my comments.

4) Because Phoenix destroyed me in the semifinal of the Mr/Ms TW competition, I sensibly conclude that he is unbeatable. But maybe JG could beat him. Who knows?

Auntie Prism:you use the 7- day display on Conversation Piece, you will notice that there have been 13 posters in the last week. Of these, 12 are male and 1 is female. (I'm assuming, here, that Lizz is the latter, although I do not know her.) The male/female split has become increasingly obvious over the past year. Given that the site's statistics show that males and females signed up in roughly equal numbers, why has this disparity developed?

Um, excuse me, dear old Ms. Prism... did you lump me in the boys?

In reply to:

The answer, I'm afraid, raises troubling issues about how the site has been run. Before someone argues, inanely, that the combative nature of TW conflicts with the female character, or some such, let me remind you that some of my favourite female posters were never shy to engage in vituperative debates, among them Wildwind, Anisette, Starlite, JarethsGirl, Glitterbot, Ohramona, Shelle, Beltene, etc. to name but a few. The problem is not that women did not sign up, but that they have left.

I'm still standing (to quote Elton John).

_____________________________________Jareth's speech: Love Me, Fear Me, Do as I say, and I will be your slave.Heathen track: Show me who you are And I would be your slaveCoincidence? I think not.

I remember beating a certain Australian in the quarter finals, who may or may not have posted on this thread

I think you knocked me out in the quarter finals, then either PHOENIX or Dara knocked you out in the semis. Dunno who faced off against either PHOENIX or Dara in the other semi, but the grand final was PHOENIX vs Dara, and Dara won. My memory isn't what it used to be, but I think the entire Earth was destroyed.

[Patches] Um, excuse me, dear old Ms. Prism... did you lump me in the boys?

Yes, I did. I may have been confusing you with another long-term, under-the-radar commenter, so apologies. With a name like Patches, though, I'm in slight shock that you are in fact human, and not some shaggy-haired sheepdog.

In reply to:

I'm still standing (to quote Elton John).

This correction means that at the time of the original post, the male-female split was 12-2, which hardly tips the balance. Needless to say, I'm not taking any individual poster stepping up to the plate, waving Cooey!, as evidence that the overall trend have been bucked.

But on to more important matters:

In reply to:

[Ziggfried] I think you knocked me out in the quarter finals, then either PHOENIX or Dara knocked you out in the semis. Dunno who faced off against either PHOENIX or Dara in the other semi, but the grand final was PHOENIX vs Dara, and Dara won.

I beat Twister by the odd vote in the last 16, and then you by two votes, iirc. Phoenix thrashed me by something like 17-7 in the semis. (I'm not sure who I eliminated before Twister, but given that he/she was British, probably Pablo or JamieSim … one of that crowd.)

I think Ohramona might have narrowly lost to Monkeyboy in her quarter final. Monkeyboy lost in the other semi to Dara.

Some very faint recollections are resurfacing: Did Dara beat Anisette in their quarterfinal?Did Marquis lose to Rabbitfighter?

First we need to examine whether the premises for this discussion are correct! I did a not-so scientifically sound comparison by typing in some random passwords ("rasta" and "Rolling stones"), picking four threads each from the years 2003 and 2009 and counting posts (not individuals) from female posters. The result - 2003: 17 girl posts out of 622009: 7 girl posts out of 100The results may have been skewed by "Rolling Stones" bringing up a list thread from 2009 -- perhaps attracting more males? -- and "rasta" bringing up a concert thread from 2003 [it's part of an url address, ultrastar something] which might have drawn more females.

Still, prism, your theory that girls fled the boards because they didn't get custom titles seems just a little bit on the tenuous side. I think the answer is to be found in that the boards changed character, which may also be connected to the steadily declining activity. Perhaps it's more difficult to exercise female posting patterns (of which behavioral scientists have a lot to say) when the total population drops below some certain threshold value or... perhaps I'm just rambling.